02-24-2008, 06:49 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Indian Air Force inducts radars to deal with bird hits</b>
Feb 24, 2008
New Delhi: There have been six fighter plane crashes in four years, and all due to bird hits. To tackle with this problem the Indian Air Force is now investing in bird radars.
When a bird hits a plane flying at supersonic speed, the impact is enough to damage the aircraft's control permanently.
Three years ago that is exactly what happened to Sqn Leader K R Murthy when his MiG 21 crashed at the Bangalore airport, killing him on the spot.
World over the aviation industry suffers a loss of $1.5 billion every year because of bird hits. As the losses are immense, the Indian Air Force has finally decided to take strong steps to curb the menace.
"Each aircraft costs us lakhs. Some of the planes we lost are not even available any more and the loss of a pilot's life is irreplaceable," DG, Flight Safety, Air Marshal V K Verma said.
But now a solution seems to be in sight. The bird radars at all its Air Force bases will track the movement and activity of birds and once the flying patterns are established corrective measures will be taken like installing shiny reflectors and laser equipments to scare the birds away without harming them.
"Birds are free to fly and we can't stop them. We have to alter our flying according to their movement. It's there that the radars would come handy," Verma said.
Bases like Hindon located near Delhi have suffered the most due to bird activity as they had to abandon flying all together, but now with the bird radar in place hopefully things will change for the better.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Feb 24, 2008
New Delhi: There have been six fighter plane crashes in four years, and all due to bird hits. To tackle with this problem the Indian Air Force is now investing in bird radars.
When a bird hits a plane flying at supersonic speed, the impact is enough to damage the aircraft's control permanently.
Three years ago that is exactly what happened to Sqn Leader K R Murthy when his MiG 21 crashed at the Bangalore airport, killing him on the spot.
World over the aviation industry suffers a loss of $1.5 billion every year because of bird hits. As the losses are immense, the Indian Air Force has finally decided to take strong steps to curb the menace.
"Each aircraft costs us lakhs. Some of the planes we lost are not even available any more and the loss of a pilot's life is irreplaceable," DG, Flight Safety, Air Marshal V K Verma said.
But now a solution seems to be in sight. The bird radars at all its Air Force bases will track the movement and activity of birds and once the flying patterns are established corrective measures will be taken like installing shiny reflectors and laser equipments to scare the birds away without harming them.
"Birds are free to fly and we can't stop them. We have to alter our flying according to their movement. It's there that the radars would come handy," Verma said.
Bases like Hindon located near Delhi have suffered the most due to bird activity as they had to abandon flying all together, but now with the bird radar in place hopefully things will change for the better.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->